A Test For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

February 28, 2015 2:50 PM

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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome affects one million Americans, according to recent estimates. Yet there's no reliable lab test for the illness, and researchers are still struggling to understand why and how the disease develops. That situation may soon improve, as researchers have found key disruptions in the immune systems of patients who've had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome fewer than three years, a discovery that could open the door to new tests and more individually tailored treatments for the debilitating illness.

"Over 70 percent of patients have a delay in diagnosis of at least a year" and sometimes a decade, says Mady Hornig, lead author of the new study and an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. That's partially because diagnosing Chronic Fatigue S...